


Exploring The Variables To Find What Makes You Tick

by Velocity_Owl87



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Conspiracy, Friendship/Love, Implied Slash, Laboratories, Medical Experimentation, Minor Injuries, Non-Graphic Violence, Off-screen Minor Character Death, Other, Spies & Secret Agents, Unethical Experimentation, Were-Creatures
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-11
Updated: 2013-07-11
Packaged: 2017-12-19 03:57:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/879183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Velocity_Owl87/pseuds/Velocity_Owl87
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Danny's out of the shadows and giving up his old wetworks duties and feeling like he's left that life long behind. At least that was case until Patrick Sharp calls him up to ask for help in getting Adam out of the government labs and dangling a crucial deal-breaker in front of Danny-Giroux has been grabbed as well.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Exploring The Variables To Find What Makes You Tick

**Author's Note:**

> A one shot that was prompted by random conversation and a sketch a friend made of a man crouching in a plastic holding cell waiting to be experimented on. I honestly have no idea why the inspiration for a lab and werecreature AU came from, but I needed to write it out. 
> 
> Some of the details have been deliberately left vague because a faceless enemy is actually a hell of a lot more scarier than one you know.
> 
> Proofed and edited, but if mistakes come up, I apologize.

Jonathan jerked awake with the insistent ringing of his mobile.

"Hello?"

There was a sharp exhale on the other side before he got an answer.

"Adam's missing."

Jonathan took a deep breath and rubbed his face before he sat up and covered his eyes.

"How long has he been gone for, Sharpie?" He asked as he stood up and grabbed a pair of trousers and pulled on a dark red Henley. His wallet and his keys were next.

"A week and a half. Almost two. We've tried everything already. That's why I'm calling you. We need to call them in."

Jonathan swore as he looked at his desk shoved his gun in the back of his jeans. He had the day free, but he had a sneaking suspicion that Sharpie was going to ask him to do something extreme in regards to Adam being missing. Even if they had been separated for almost three years, Sharpie was never going to give Adam up and vice versa.

Although Jonathan understood the depth of their connection, he didn't have to like being called in as their back up. But then again, he had promised. Just like he had promised to be there when the others would be needed to be called in.

"Don't you think we're jumping the gun just a bit? We can handle this ourselves, Sharpie. We do have the manpower behind us."

"Not when it comes to taking them on. They left a calling card. We don't have that much time."

Jonathan's goodwill evaporated at the seriousness of Sharpie's tone.

"You have to be sure of what you're asking. If we call him in, we're going to have to deal with his demands."

Jonathan warned him as he moved towards the kitchen to get a cup of coffee to steel his nerves for the upcoming unpleasant task he was going to undertake.

"You know that I'd move heaven and earth for him. I don't care what I have to do to get him back in one piece, more or less. Besides, we're not going in empty handed. Trust me on that. I'll be there in twenty."

~*~*~*~

Adam slid to the floor of his cell and wrapped his arms around his knees, curling himself up into a small ball and tried to not shiver. He put his forehead on his knees and took deep breaths to calm himself as he waited for them to bring back the boy. With each breath, he could feel the bandages pressing into his ribs and around his wrists loosen and tighten with each breath and shudder.

He feels them get tacky with blood from the earlier biopsies and tests they had subjected him to. He would think that taking from him would be enough, but he was wrong. He was sure that they were doing it to punish them, to make Adam and the boy afraid.

They were succeeding.

They were breaking him down with every test, every torment and every time that he and the boy were separated. He wanted to do something, but he was helpless. He had fought back and all he had gained was a broken arm and three days of missing consciousness.

He clenched the fingers of his broken arm and took a ragged breath.

It was then that the Perspex door slid open and they shoved the boy in. He was shaking and wide-eyed and he only had a wide bandage around his left arm. There was only the faintest scent of antiseptic cleaning product on him. They had gone easy on him then. That was good.

He crawled towards Adam with slow, sluggish movements before finally being able to lean against him and seek comfort in his fellow prisoner. In response, Adam uncurled his body long enough to wrap his arm around the boy's shoulders and hoped that help would come quickly.

They had just started the first battery of tests on him and Adam knew from experience that it would only get worse and much more painful. He had seen the bodies. He had listened as the techs had talked above his head as if he was nothing more than a dog.

They didn’t have much time.

~*~*~*~*

Danny's hands were stained with gun oil and sharpening block dust after finishing his upkeep of his weapons. Although he hadn't needed them for a very long time, it never hurt to keep them in shape in case he was going to be pulled out of retirement for one last job. He had gone out of his own accord once his youngest had been born, not wanting to miss out on his life like he had with his other boys. Danny often wondered, when the nights were too damned long and the house too damned lonely, if it would have helped his marriage if he had simply given up his oath the minute that he knew he was to be a father.

Danny often asked himself that question, even if he knew it was pointless to do so. It wasn't going to bring his old life back. It wasn't going to erase the years he had left his wife alone and fretting and it wasn't going to erase the roadmap of scars that his body had become from both hockey and his off the books work. He was thirty-five and felt about a hundred and he hoped that this year, he was going to finally get a fresh start in a new city and a new team. He had paid his dues and he was done. All he wanted was a quiet life and none of his past haunting him and he was going to fight for it like he should have years ago.

Danny clenched his hands as his thoughts darkened, but then let the flash of anger and disappointment pass. He was free at the moment and the only thing that he was looking forward to was having a relaxing weekend playing some pickup hockey and watching some baseball with his friends. The next week, he could worry about what was coming next.

Having decided this, Danny picked up the bottle of oil, the whetstone, and the rags and put them away before moving to the utility sink in the garage. He scrubbed his hands until they were raw and pink and went into the kitchen, only glancing briefly at his cell before pulling out a bottle of water and taking a long gulp out of it. He picked up and swiped the screen, surprised to see a Chicago area number as one of his missing calls.

Frowning, he called it. As far as he knew, they didn't know anyone in Chicago. Nor had anything happened there recently that required his attention. But he still had to call and make sure. Even if he was out of the game, he was still one of the go to guys when all hell broke loose.

"Hello? Danny? Thank God. It's Patrick Sharp and I need your help. Adam's missing and I think-no, I know-that they took him and I'm just glad I got you."

Danny's eyebrows shot up at the relief oozing from Sharp.

"I don't do runs anymore, Sharp." Danny replied quickly, wincing at having to turn the other man down. But he had made a promise and he was going to stick to it.

"I know that you've stopped making runs and I know that I'm going to have to beg you and sweeten the pot something serious to get you with us on this one, but I promise that it's going to be worthwhile."

Danny laughed softly. "Patrick, I don't need mone-"

"They've also got Giroux."

~*~*~*~*

"Here. Hopefully this will help." Adam whispered to him as they lay on the same thin pallet that served as their bed. Claude looked up at him with reddened, bleary eyes, not understanding until Adam pulled him close and placed a pill between his lips. Claude swallowed it gratefully and closed his eyes, waiting for the pain in his leg to ease to a dull and manageable throb.

They had just finally wrapped it up in a cast after testing both his healing factor and pain tolerance, something that he hadn't remained silent or conscious for the whole way through. He understood now why Adam had shakily staggered to the toilet and threw up after they had done their testing on his arm. He felt Adam's fingers combing through his shorn hair and he couldn't help but to let out a whimper of pain. Adam wasn't of his pack, but at this point, he would take any comfort he could get in the sterile hell they were both trapped in.

"It'll pass soon." Adam murmured, his fingers gentle as they stroked his stubbled scalp and tender temples. Claude shivered and bit his lip as he let the words wash over him, holding onto them to anchor himself in the face of the overwhelming pain. He closed his eyes and focused on the sensation of Adam's fingertips on his temples and the pain started to recede.

He was nearly asleep when he heard the klaxons of the alarms. His eyes flew open at the sound of the Perspex door screeching and cracking, making him jerk up and cry out in pain as he jostled his leg. He wanted to sit up, but Adam held him close, protecting him with his body as the destruction went on around them. Shards of Perspex and glass shards rained on them as all hell broke loose and they waited, their hearts beating rapidly in tandem as they waited to either die or...

Claude didn't dare to hope that they would get rescued. More than likely, their captors were destroying the lab and all of the evidence of their work. Claude knew what he and Adam were worth to their captors. But he still couldn't help but to wonder if it was more than destruction that was happening around and above them.

He had nurtured a weak hope that it could possibly happen, but whenever he had looked into Adam's broken and faded blue gaze...He was starting to think it wasn't going to happen and they would die in the Godforsaken laboratory. They would probably be buried in unmarked boxes and without their families knowing what happened to them. It could happen like that. Or it could be the opposite and he hoped, in his pain and bewilderment that it was the latter rather than the former.

All of this went through his mind before he felt a tentative touch on his shoulder. He opened his eyes slightly and was surprised to come face to face with Jonathan Toews dressed in wetworks gear and with a relieved, yet grimly edged look on his face as he looked down at them.

"You're going to be okay, Giroux. Both of you. We're going to get you guys out of here. It's going to be okay."

He spoke in French, his words clipped and short, not like what he was used to hearing and a sharp stab of pain hit him in the chest at hearing the familiar cadence of his mother tongue. He wanted to cry, since he never thought he would hear it again. He let himself be lost in the cadence of the sound of it as Toews checked him out and spoke into a radio once he made a decision.

Claude watched him from the safety of Adam's arms, but lost track when another person showed up. Adam was mute in shock and not letting him go and not registering what Toews was doing. He didn't move or say a word. Not even when Patrick Sharp came into view. It wasn't until Sharp murmured something that Adam smiled a cracked smile before his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he went limp. Claude struggled, shocked at when he saw Toews move away from Adam.

Sharp looked at him and Claude felt himself go cold as he understood what was going to happen next. But despite knowing, it was still a surprise when Danny came into view at the exact time that liquid relief flooded into his veins and it was all dark.

~*~*~*~*

Adam woke up to the scent of coffee and a spicy aftershave that he would have known anywhere. He opened his eyes after several false starts and smiled when he saw Sharp sitting in the bed next to him, a cup of coffee in his hand and the remote in his hands. His gaze was fixed on a muted television set, but his eyes were glassy and not taking anything in at all.

It was then that Adam decided to make his move and reached out to poke at Sharp, who started when he was touched. He did smile, a fleeting, watery smile, but a smile nonetheless. It made him wonder if Sharpie already knew he was awake and was waiting for Adam to make the first move. He was more sensitive than the others Adam had known, but downplayed his abilities, making him a sought after commodity than even the Hunters were.

"How did you find us?"

Sharpie shook his head and turned off the television. He gave Adam the cup and went to the desk to pour himself another one. It was then Adam realized that they were in a nondescript hotel room with the same generic prints and wooden desk with a small coffee pot on its glossy surface. He watched and waited patiently until Sharpie was ready to speak.

"Theodore and Briere are the ones that did the work. I just followed and provided the wetworks like Tazer did."

He shook his head and took a long sip of his coffee before he reached out and touched Adam's hair tentatively. They had sheared it and although it was growing back, it made Sharp furious that they had dared to do so. Adam wasn't Adam without his hair and the fact that they had not only kidnapped him, but tried to dehumanize him just made him furious all over again and want to kill them over again.

"I'd rather...I'm just relieved that I have you back. That we got you and Giroux out before they hacked you to pieces. Or anyone else. They won't be doing anything else, that's for certain."

His voice went harsh at that and Adam had to bite his lip. He didn't know how to reply to that. He had never been one for examining his insides and he was loath to start now. Especially now that Adam was emotionally naked, bruised and battered and with almost no actual shields to protect him from anything that would be coming next.

So he remained quiet and drank his coffee and waited.

"I'm glad we found you. Even though it may have been a bit late."

Adam shook his head.

"I'll heal now. I'm with you. That's what matters."

He could have added more, about being able to sleep now, about not worrying whether he would have to carve out necrotized tissue from his body, or protecting Claude so they didn't permanently harm him. Or that he had his anchor again now that Sharp was with him. The words though, got stuck in his throat. He tried to say them, but they clogged his throat and choked him.

Sharpie though, understood and simply put his coffee and Adam's on the nightstand and gathered Adam into his arms. Adam didn't resist as his head rested on Sharpie's chest with Sharpie's arms encircling him. He was being given the comfort he couldn't voice. He would have, in other circumstances made a move to get away, but he didn't have the strength any longer. 

So he accepted the shelter that Sharpie provided and if he did cling to him tighter than necessary, Sharpie didn’t give any indication he minded. 

~*~*~*~

“How is he?”

Danny looked up from his vigil at Claude’s side and shrugged.

“Too soon to tell. For both of them, I mean. At least they didn’t start taking chunks out of him with silver like they did with Burish.”

Jonathan scowled, but didn’t say anything. He had seen the gouges and had seen how they were not healing completely or as quickly as they should have. He made a mental note to look up something to speed that up, or else Adam was going to be indelibly marked from his nightmarish experience and never truly escape it.

“They’re out of the lab and it has been destroyed. That’s a start to them starting to heal, I would say.” Danny spoke again. Jonathan made a non-committal noise and shifted from foot to foot before speaking and even though Danny knew what was going to come, it still took him by surprise.

“We need you to come back and finish the job, Danny.”

Danny sighed and wanted to bite out a sharp rejection. But seeing Claude lying in the hotel bed covered in contusions and bandages made him pause. He nearly lost Claude. Claude, his friend and if he were to be finally honest with himself, something more than that. And whether he liked it or not, he was too damned deep and his oaths were binding him too tightly to walk away.  Even if he did want to say no, it was too late.

He sighed heavily before finally nodding.

“All right, Toews. What’s next?”

END.


End file.
